Beautiful church left with leaking roof after lead thieves cause £250,000 worth of damage

Early estimates suggest that more than £250,000 may have been caused to St John the Baptist Church roof

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Tom Fremantle, member of the Parochial Church Council said what he discovered on the roof was utterly devastating.

He said: “A few of us come to the church in the morning and we noticed a couple of waterfalls coming through the ceiling, which was then soaking everything underneath.

St John the Baptist Church

“We had to investigate this, which meant that I had to climb up the church tower for the first time in more than 35 years. When I got to the top, it was so sad to see the state of the roof.

“This church is a living part of the village community, and we have to do everything to get it back to working order. Permanent repair of the roof will take months, but we will do everything we can to ensure that the building remains watertight and remains in use for the meantime.”

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The regular churchgoer said there are temporary solutions in place to protect the church for a short-term period, but it would not have been possible without the community chipping in to help out.

He says their acts have greatly improved his confidence in securing the long-term future of the church.

He said: “We put out a post on social media, pleading for people to help us get everything back up and running for the weekend service.

“Many people answered, giving us help and support in terms of giving us the likes of plastic sheeting and timber. We had three people working on it at a combined age of more than 210 years old, all chipping away and doing there bit to get the building back in working order.

“When we first entered the church, it felt hopeless as to how we can fix this, but from the help that the community have given us has now turned in to something hopeful.

“Their acts have improved the confidence of the community that we will get a more long term solution in place. Their help has been marvellous in more ways than one.”

Tom Fremantle said that the community has helped improve his confidence in securing the future of St John the Baptist Church

Tom is now pleading for more help to give the church a more permanent fix, as he estimates at this early stage that the damage could potentially cost more than £250,000.

The church has been in contact with its insurance company, but early signs are not looking so positive.

Tom said: “Insurance have stated that they won’t even begin to pay a small fraction of the cost, so we will be launching an online appeal for financial support.

“We may also enquire about getting some funding from somewhere to help us out with the cost, but we need to get a fix now. Any building work will take months to get a permanent fix in place.

“It is sad that the people behind this think they can make a living from stealing lead from a 15th century building – it is not worth the disruption that it has caused to the community.